We went on a Wednesday night, we brought two bottles of wine. We had dinner on the first floor. The room there is kind of on the small side. It's a little tight, but i would call it cozy not cramped. The room is dimly lit, so its got a nice vibe going. We went on an off-night. There was a table of old people behind us (some guy in a bad suit, i think he thought he was in wall street). Overall, I think the crowd here is somewhat mixed. Old people tend to go earlier (for the first sitting) and then you get a younger crowd for the second and later sittings. We had a reservation at 7:30, and stayed to about 10:30 or so. We pretty much had the place to ourselves after about 9:00 or so.
I've been there quite a few times. I think they switched the menu sometime last year from the earlier iterations. I really liked a few things on the old menu, like the arctic char and the duck confit. The duck confit on the old menu was awesome (duck confit, plus some bacon, a beef brisket and beens in the cassoulet-style). Unfortunately, they don't make it like they used to. I think the menu before the change was more along the lines of hearty bistro classics, but the new menu is more like nice presentation restaurant food. So the food might still be quite good, I just miss the old menu.
They have a reasonable corkage fee. We brought a chardonnay and a bordeaux. The chardonnay was a Mersoleil, a play on Mersualt from France. We followed that with a 1989 bordeaux, from St. Estephe (i forgot the winery). They decanted the bordeaux for us. The chardonnay was excellent. The bordeaux was even better. Both were excellent with the meal and we're not compromised in any way by the food i had that night. After trying the bordeaux i can see why people rave about them as good wines and good food fines.
We had an excellent waiter. A true professional. Andre, the old french guy. He is reason enough to go to Pony. We showed up in two waves for dinner, so the white was there before the red. He approved of the white. Initially I thought the red was going to be an amarone classico, so i told him we'd need a decanter. He concurred and approved of the wine. When the red finally arrive, his eyes lit up when he saw the bordeaux. He tried both of the wines (we gave him some) and he was thoroughly happy with both of them. He provides brutally honest opinions on the menu. For example, we asked about the coq a vin on their menu. I was kind of eyeing, someone else had it on a previous visit. Andre's assessment of it changed my mind. According to andre, the coq a vin -- when done properly -- should use a castrated rooster that gets really big. This is what the Italians call a capone. So then you get all this meet in the gravy/sauce. However, the coq a vin at pony uses a cornish hen, which according to andre doesn't have enough meet on it. So he was basically saying it was three bites and your done kind of thing. He didn't recommend it. When it came time for the desert he also made some recommendations, he really likes the creme brulee there and strongly recommended it. Basically this guy is going to give you a straight answer, because he's a purist and professional.
I started with a duck quesadilla and the beef bourguignon. Andre approved of both choices.
The duck quesadilla was fine. I think the tortilla or whatever you call the wrap was a little on the thick side, but the filing was a ok. It was topped with some sour cream. There was another appetizer that looked good (the shrimp and scallops). I had a shrimp from it, but not enough of the other stuff to give a detailed assessment of it. I would probably try that one as well next time.
The beef bourguignon was excellent. It was so tender you could tear the chunks out with your fork. Pony does a variation on this. My understanding is that most people serve this as a stew. Pony's comes as a rack (i think they used the meat around the ribs). They cook the whole rack, So i would guess that this is beef in bourguignon style. Anyway, forgetting about semantics -- it was good and tender. I only need by knife to help me clean up a few pieces of fat. it came with a decent dark sauce and was served on a bed of grilled vegetables. This is definitely something that I would have again. The wine was really good with this. I mean there was no problems with the wine changing its taste half way through the meal or anything. If anything the wine got better as it opened up.
For desert I had the chocolate mousse with grand marnier. So after Andre brought the desert he brought a shot glass and poured some grand marnier on it. This was really good, but I had enough of the creme brullee to really like it as well. If I had to pick between the two, I would take the creme brullee. I had a coffee as well. It was a little more chocolatee than many coffees, almost like a mocha. It was quite good. Andre made a fresh pot and gave me a refill.
Overall, I was quite happy with the dinner. Pony is not a place that is going to break the bank. I think that there fixed price menu is $25 (starter, main and dessert from a subpart of the menu). Most of the mains on the regular menu are in the high teens. I think some of the seafood (eg, black cod), might be in the low-$20 range. So you get solid food at a good price. The thing that I love about this place is Andre. I would go back just for him. As long as Andre is there you know the food is not going to be shit, because he would walk out. Andre bumps the rating up a whole bunny, so its a 2 with Andre; but only a 1 without him
Rating: 2 bunnies with Andre, but only 1 bunny if you get someone other than Andre as a waiter/waitress.
Notes on the Bunny Rating System:
- 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
- 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
- 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
- 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool
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